


A Vengeance Delayed

by Hello_Spikey



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-31
Updated: 2010-03-31
Packaged: 2019-10-29 13:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17809094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_Spikey/pseuds/Hello_Spikey
Summary: Spike and Halfrek have a nice little chat about what she did when he was alive.





	A Vengeance Delayed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cafedemonde](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=cafedemonde).



> This is for cafedemonde who asked for the above scenario.
> 
> It's pretty gen, it really is just a nice little chat. (I would never write something bad happening to Hallie!) Only NSFW because of Spike's language.

He didn’t know how he could have missed it. She was perched on a bar stool, ankles demurely crossed, wearing a light off-the-shoulder number and stirring her martini absently while Anya talked animatedly, no doubt about the sexual prowess of Xander Harris, or some other topic best not explored. For the longest time, Spike just stared, knowing that she looked damn familiar, and not just from the birthday party. And then her eyes had flicked his way, catching the light from the beer signs, and he knew.  
  
Halfrek met his eyes and she knew, too. She uncrossed her legs and straightened in her chair. “And speaking of men,” she said to Anya, nodding toward Spike.  
  
Spike had been planning all sorts of opening lines, but as he approached, he just blurted out, “Where you human? Even then?”  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s a bit hypocritical, coming from a vampire.”  
  
“Like being a demon is the most important thing about a person,” Anya said. She was sagging over her own beverage and a little red-faced.  
  
Spike held up his hands, not sure how he stumbled into this attack. “Oi. Just… wait a tick. Are you… were you…” he gestured helplessly at Halfrek.  
  
She sighed and explained to Anya, “We met before, when William was human.”  
  
“Oh!” Anya brightened. “Did you have sex?”  
  
Spike blustered and Halfrek laughed, a musical little laugh that Spike remembered adoring, and that just infuriated him further. “You broke my bloody heart, you cold-hearted bitch!”  
  
She tilted her head. “Oh my god – you’re not over that?”  
  
“I died that night, you stupid wench!”  
  
Anya and Halfrek shared a glance. “Was that metaphorical?”  
  
Spike set his fists on his hips. “No.”  
  
Halfrek gave him an appraising look over her martini. “So… right after we spoke, you just rushed out into the night and got eaten by a vampire? Depressing.”  
  
“Depressing? This is… was… my bloody life!”  
  
“Well,” she shrugged. “It’s kind of a sad way to go, even for a… ahem, no offense.” She rolled her eyes.  
  
Anya perked up. “Was Spike very different as a human?”  
  
Halfrek covered her mouth. Spike pushed between the two bar stools and turned to glare at Anya. “Give us a moment to reconnect, yeah? Alone.”  
  
“I want details,” Anya said. When Spike didn’t relent, she pouted. “I already told Hallie what you’re like to have sex with. It’s only fair!”  
  
This, strangely enough, didn’t mollify Spike, but had the opposite affect of making him glower dangerously.  
  
Anya sighed, grabbed her purse, mouthed “details” to Hallie, and stomped out of the bar.  
  
“You’ve gotten ruder,” Halfrek said.  
  
He whirled on her, sneering. “Can’t say the same about you.”  
  
“Oh, come on. What are you so angry about?”  
  
His nostrils flared. He clenched his fists, standing over her. Somehow, he kept his voice quiet. “You said I was beneath you.”  
  
She squinted a little, trying to remember. She set down her martini. “And what would have happened, William, if I had shown you the tiniest bit of encouragement?”  
  
“You would have been a decent fucking human being.”  
  
“Oh, William. Think rationally. Would you have rather I led you on and let you continue to make a fool of yourself? I’m a little older than you, let me tell you, a young man like that, with the slightest encouragement, becomes an impossible social monster. You wouldn’t have stopped at poetry. The kindest thing to do in those cases is to firmly but gently close the door.” Her pretty dark brows canted with feeling, her liquid eyes regarding him with pity – it was an uncomfortably familiar expression.  
  
Spike shook his head. “How did I ever build  _you_  up into the perfect woman?”  
  
“Well, I certainly hope you don’t hold me accountable for what goes on in your mind,” she turned back to her drink and frowned, finding it nearly empty. She tapped the little plastic sword against the rim, shaking excess liquid off the olive before popping it in her mouth.  
  
She chewed the olive with an unperturbed expression, and Spike flailed about, in his mind, searching for his argument. “You rejected me. Left me helpless and broken and…”  
  
She raised her eyebrows. “And women should never reject men? We shouldn’t get to choose our mates?”  
  
“No! But…”  
  
Halfrek shrugged, dropping her plastic sword back into the glass. “Do you want vengeance on Cecily Addams?”  
  
Spike took a step back, blinking. “Wot?”  
  
“She never really existed, it’s true, but vengeance is my thing. What would you like to have happened to her? We can be creative.”  
  
“Uh… you’re Cecily.”  
  
“No, Cecily is a fiction. Even if she had been real, she’d be a hundred years dead at this point.” Halfrek shrugged again and settled back on her barstool, looking primly at him, ready for business. “But we can invent a horrible future for her. I’ll say she married an abusive bastard of a minor baronet and regretted giving you the send-off the rest of her days.”  
  
Spike looked cross. “Don’t do that!”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
He dropped into the bar stool Anya had vacated and looked straight ahead, at the array of taps, rather than at Halfrek. “Cecily was my first big love. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. Have happened. Have had happened…” He shook his head. “Bloody tenses. What are we? Past perfect?”   
  
Halfrek chuckled. “I don’t know about you, but my past is anything but perfect.” She waved to the bartender and pointed at her empty martini before setting her chin on her hand and smiling at him. “Anyway, didn’t things work out for the best? I got a killer vengeance and you got, well, eternal life. It  _is_  good to see you, William.”  
  
Rather than return her smile, Spike picked up Anya’s discarded drink and sniffed it. He scowled, finding it fruity and insufficiently whiskey. “What were you doing there, anyway? Can’t have just been to break a poor young bastard’s heart.”  
  
“Do you remember Sylvia Addams?”  
  
“No. Uh.. wait, yeah. Your – Cecily’s – cousin. Kinda little, plain thing, wasn’t she?”  
  
“Well, that was the problem. I was there to reject all the men who had rejected her. She had quite a list! You weren’t on the list – though she did once complain you never so much as looked at her. Still, I couldn’t very well be attached to anyone. It was a long and complex vengeance.”  
  
Spike blinked and stared. The bartender arrived and he stumbled through ordering a drink while Halfrek picked up her second martini. That taken care of, he at last looked at her, brow furrowed. “I cannot believe we’re having this conversation.”  
  
“Lucky us. The years have been kind.” She winked. “I would have had a hard time turning you away, as you are now. All the handsomeness is still there, but the naïveté is burned away. I like it.” Her shoulder brushed his.  
  
Spike blinked. “Yeah?”  
  
“Oh yeah.” She gave him a sultry look.   
  
Spike kicked back from the bar. “Sorry, love, you’re beneath me.” He grinned, adjusted his jacket, and walked out of the bar with a swagger.  
  
Halfrek waited until he was out the door before laughing. “Wish granted, William.”


End file.
